Day two of the Wearable Technology Show was just as enjoyable as day one. The highlight of the second day was meeting the exhibitors (see photos and videos below), and attending talks in the IoT Keynote Theatre. Saverio Romeo (Principal Analyst at Beecham Research) talked about "The Current Status of the Internet of Things Vision". I wasn't exactly sure what his talk was going to be about, but I was intrigued by the word "vision", which appeared to have been tacked onto the end, which caused me to speculate. Was he going to give us a kind of "State of the Nation" type address containing lashings of stats about market adoption etc, or was he going to dish out something completely different?

Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona from the 22nd-25th February 2016. It is the world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry, and I was there to cover the show. Here's a selection of photos and videos taken during my week in Spain. As it was my first time attending the conference, I found it overwhelming! Due to the bus and metro strike, getting around the city was a major challenge, but getting to and from the conference centre was a breeze compared to the real challenge of finding my way around the vast series of halls that played host to thousands of the world's leading mobile technology companies, with the exception of Apple.

The International Consumer Electronics Show (International CES) is the world’s gathering place for the consumer technology industry. Held in Las Vegas every year (Jan 6-9), it has acted as a showcase for innovation and breakthrough technology for more than 40 years. Today it is one of the world's leading technology events.

FishBit is an aquarium monitoring device that enables owners of tropical fish to remotely control and monitor their tank's water composition. After developing the idea for fun, the team decided to quit their day jobs, join a hardware accelerator programme (Highway1), and pursue the project on a full-time basis. Based on the success of their Kickstarter campaign, it looks like they won't be needing their jobs back any time soon!

Petsimpl have created "Pip", which is both a GPS tracker and an activity tracker. It works for both cats and dogs. There are millions of pet owners who constantly worry that either their canine will escape or that their feline may wander off and never return. The makers of Pip want to give pet owners peace of mind. Pip uses Bluetooth LE so the device is smaller than many other pet trackers currently on the market.

The UK is a nation of animal lovers and according to the PFMA, cats are the 4th most popular pet. Almost twenty percent of British households have a feline companion, that equates to a total of 8 million furballs. According to the Humane Society of America there are 95.6 million domestic cats in the US, of which 46% live alone with their human owners. It's impossible to know how many are not allowed to roam free but one thing's for sure, there are a lot of mooching moggies stuck indoors all day with no entertainment, which sucks if you're a cat.

The STAR by SenseGiz is not only a fitness tracker but it also enhances smartphone functionality - it does this via gesture control. This is particularly useful when your phone is not easily accessible. For example, you can increase or decrease the volume, or answer/reject calls while out running with a simple clap or swipe motion. It also offers notifications, sleep monitoring and workout reminders.

We love pets almost as much as we love robots which is why we are huge fans of Pawly. This friendly automaton is a robot pet sitter that has a built-in mic and speakers so owners can talk to and play with their pets while they're away from home. It can even dispense treats! Most pets don't like to be left home alone. This is an issue that many companies have tried to solve. One example is Pet TV which has been a big hit with pet owners.

We aim to help the IOT ecosystem by connecting hardware and software professionals, academics, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, hobbyists, investors, and early-adopters. We believe the "Maker Revolution" will lead to incredible innovations that will enrich the lives of millions of consumers and employees throughout the world.

OUR FOCUS

Anything relating to the Internet of Things including drones, wearables and connected devices of every kind. The IOT will increasingly affect us all as smart devices become ubiquitous in the home, work place and within industry. We aim to help hardware startup entrepreneurs promote their products, and deliver news about anything IOT-related.